Continuous mill and method of rolling structural shapes



June 14 1927.

w. JONES con-muons MILL AND mmnon OF ROLLING swnuc'rum. samas Filed Jan.30, 1925 Patented June 14, 1927.

WM. LARIMER JONES, or PITTSBURGH,

IPENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JONES 80 LAUGI-ILIN STEEL CORPORATION, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- "rron or PENNSYLVANIA.

CONTINUOUS MILL AND METHOD OF ROLLING STRUCTURAL SHAPES.

Application filed. January This invention relates particularly to continuous mills and methods for rolling structural and other shapes and aims to improve generally such mills and methods.

The invention aims to increase the output and cheapen the cost of operation of rolling mills of the continuous type, and to enable a Wider range of products to be rolled. to more accurate limits of size and shape and with less mechanical trouble and wastage than heretofore.

The invention contemplates passing the blank or billet to be rolled through stands Y of horizontal grooved rolls followed by one or more stands containing both horizontal and vertical rolls arranged to form a pass for suitably finishing the shape.

In the drawings, which show diagrammatically an illustrativeembodiment of ap paratus suitable for practicing the inven tion; Fig. 1-1" is a plan view and Fig. 22 is a side elevation of a continuous rolling mill adapted for rolling structural shapes, and consisting oi eight stands of horizontal rolls and one stand 01". horizontal and vertical rolls in combination. The direction in which the billet or blank moves is indicated by the dot and dash line and arrows.

In the apparatus illustrated for practicing the invention, the roll stands 11 mount two grooved horizontal rolls 12, each of usual type, and are arranged in a straight line at distances apart that are sulficient to permit the, blank to be fed into the next succeeding roll pass before emerging completely from the preceding one.- No guides and strippers are shown in the drawin but it is contemplated that any usual types of such appliances may beprovided for directing the blank into each successive pass.

As illustrated, a single stand 13 having horizontal rolls l l and vertical rolls is used for the final pass. A fixed pass combination mill of the type described in WVorthington application filed April 1 1,

1925, Serial No. 23,050 may advantageously be used in connection with a continuous mill of suitable type for carrying out my invention.

The successive sets of horizontal rolls 12 may advantageously be provided with grooves for performing the successive reductions from the billet to the finished shape so, 1925. Serial No. 5,842.-

for the heaviest section of a series of shapes of the same nominal size, and the final reduction to the exact dimensions for the desired weight may be secured by suitably adjusting the rolls lat and15 in the last stand. The mill is preferably equipped with electric motor drive having means for varying and accurately controlling the speed 0t" each stand of rolls to suit rollingconditions.

The blank is fed into the first set of rolls 12 and passes on automatically through the entire series of horizontal rolls 12 and through the final pass between the horizontal rolls 14; and vertical rolls 15, the speed being such as to complete the operation in a few-seconds. The sets of horizontal rolls 12 are: adjustable to enlarge or diminish the width of the opening between them, which constitutes what is commonly known as a closed pass, and the rolls 14 and 15 like wise are adjustable toward or from each other, so that the amount of reduction in each pass and the weight per foot of the finished product maybe controlledas de-- sired within a widerange of limits.

Advantages of the invention are the rapidity with which a billet or blank may be rolled to finished shape,so as to permit of reduction in cross-section area oit" from ninety to ninety-five percent and corresponding elongation before the metal cools to the point, that it cannot be rolled readily without injury to its structure or distortion upon cooling.

The invention is particularly adapted for rolling extremely thin shapes, such as the light web I sections illustrated in Lochhead Patent No. 1,554,108, dated September 15,

The invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment shown and described, nor to the number of passes or spacing arrangement, but is applicable to mills for producing all shapes requiring a series of passes I for their completion.

I claim as my invention:

1. A continuous rolling mill for producing structural shapes and other products comprising a series of stands of horizontal rolls forming successive passes for reducing the billet or'blank to approximately the shape of the finished product in combination with a stand of vertical and horizontal reducing rolls for finishing the product, the rolls of each pass being adjust-able independently of the others.

2. A continuous rolling mill for producing structural shapes and other products comprising a series of stands of horizontal rolls forming successive passes for reducing the billet or blank to approximately the shape of the finishedproductin combination with a stand of vertical and horizontal reducing rolls for finishing the product, said roll stands being spaced apart along a straight line, whereby said beam enters each pass in quick succession. V

3. A continuous rolling mill for producing structural shapes and other products comprising a series of stands of horizontal rolls for reducing the billet or blank to approximately the shape of the finished product in combination with a stand of vertical and horizontal reducing rolls for finishing the product, said roll stands being spaced apartat distances less than the length of the blank as it passes between successive sets of rolls.

4. A continuous rolling mill for producing structural shapes and other products comprising a series of stands of horizontal rolls for reducing the billet or blank to approximately the shape of the finished prodnot in combination witha stand of vertical and horizontal reducing rolls for finishing the product, said roll stands being arranged in a straight line at convenient distances apart for guiding the blank into successive passes while still engaged in preceding passes.

5. A continuous rolling mill comprising one or more groups of sets of horizontal reducing rolls arranged in lengthwise series, followed by one or more sets of combination rolls comprising two horizontal and two vertical reducing rolls arranged in the same plane.

6. A continuous rolling mill comprising one or more groups or sets of adjustable horizontalreducing rolls arranged in series, followed by one or more sets of combination reducing rolls comprising two horizoixtal and two vertical adjustable rolls arranged in the same plane whereby products of the same approximate dimensions but differing in weight may be rolled.

7. The method of rolling structural or other shapes which consists in elongating and reducing the cross sectional area of a billet to the approximate contour of finished shape by passing the billet in quick succession through a continuous series of horizontal grooved rolls, and then without interruption of its movement further reducing the cross sectional area by a final pass through vertical and horizontal reducing rolls.

8. The method of rolling structural or other shapes which consists in treating a billet by successively and continuously pass ing it in quick succession through a series of horizontal grooved rolls to form a rolled section of approximate contour to the finished shape followed by passing it without interruption of its movement simultaneously between horizontal and vertical rolls arranged in the form of a fixed pass of the finished shape.

9. The method of rolling structural or other shapes which consists in continuously and progressively reducing a billet to 'finished shape for the heaviest section of a series of shapes of the same nominal size by rolls acting on two sides only and then finally reducing to exact size and desired weight in a single pass by rolls acting on all four sides.

10. The method of rolling a line of structural or other shapes which consists in pass ing a blank through a series of horizontal grooved rolls to reduce it to approximately the finished shape and dimensions of the heaviest section of the desired size, followed by passing it through a combination mill having adjustable horizontal and vertical rolls arranged in the same plane to reduce the web and flanges to the finished dimensions of the desired section.

11. The method of rolling structural or other shapes which consists in operating upon the blank in a series of closed passes of suitable shapes to reduce the blank to approximately finished size, followed by rolling it in an open pass between adjustable horizontal and vertical rolls to reduce it to exact finished size.

12. The method of rolling structural'or other shapes which consists in operating upon the blank in a series of closed passes between adjustable horizontal rolls of suit able shapes to reduce the blank to approximately finished size, followed by rolling it in an open pass between adjustable horizontal and vertical rolls to reduce it to exact finished size.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

7 WM. LARIMER JONES. 

